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<title>i can feel you (sifting through my hands) by skyekingsleigh</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24336943">i can feel you (sifting through my hands)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyekingsleigh/pseuds/skyekingsleigh'>skyekingsleigh</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>someday (however long it takes) [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Vampire Diaries (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Tragedy, Character Death, F/M, Future Fic, Hope gives Klaus a call, Phone Calls &amp; Telephones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 06:55:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>658</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24336943</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyekingsleigh/pseuds/skyekingsleigh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He finds karma’s not as sweet as he’d like when it takes the people he loves from his clutched hands.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>someday (however long it takes) [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1735117</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i can feel you (sifting through my hands)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>title from Nothing But Thieves' "Lover, please stay."</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He’s in Belgium when he gets the call, strolling though the stoned houses of Brugge and taking in the crisp, cold air. His phone flashes Hope’s name, alarming him and making his steps falter. There’s a tight-knit feeling low in his belly, one he usually gets when he’s worried for his daughter. She has her own life and family now, he knows. Looks-wise they wouldn’t even be that far apart in age. But he still worries, and she lets him.</p>
<p>His daughter’s voice is tinged with barely contained contempt when he answers, all small talk and unnecessary musings.</p>
<p>“What’s the matter, sweetheart? Get to it.” He cuts her off after her fifth attempt at asking him about Belgian chocolates.</p>
<p>He hears a sigh, maybe a sniff. It doesn’t do anything to decrease his worry.</p>
<p>“It’s Caroline, dad.”</p>
<p>The rest of her words are muffled, gibberish. He couldn’t register much of them, can’t make his body move in fear that if he does, it becomes real. Surely, it’s not real. Not when just a month ago they’re in Iceland making up for lost time, her fingers tracing the letters of her name across the taut skin of his stomach and his hands tugging at her loose curls and massaging the nape of her neck. Surely, it’s not real. Not when she whispered promises against his mildly open lips, a hint of <em>‘It’s time.’</em> No. Surely not.</p>
<p>“Dad,” Hope prompts when he doesn’t answer. “Her friend, Bonnie called me. They were together. She couldn’t reach you when it happened, but she had my number.”</p>
<p>He couldn’t breathe. He’s long pushed past the healthy swarm of people, finds himself an unoccupied bench to situate himself. “No.”</p>
<p>“She was telling Bonnie, dad. “ Hope’s voice falters, cracks. He’s reminded that over the years, his little girl has learned to love Caroline as well, learned to see her as a mother figure in the boarding school and lately as a more permanent fixture in Klaus’ life. “She told her that she’s ready, and that a lot of people are going to be pissed but they just had to deal with it. She was planning to go to you after.”</p>
<p>Nothing he didn’t already know. She’s told him as much, the night before they parted; told him that she’s to tie a few loose ends, tell her friends and whoever’s left of her family, and then she’ll find him, she promised. She’ll find him and she won’t leave this time, not if he wasn’t going with her.</p>
<p>“Take it back, Hope,” He mutters, frantic, desperate. “Please.”</p>
<p>This time his daughter lets him hear her cry. “I’m so sorry, dad. I’m so sorry.”</p>
<p>Grief is such an odd little thing for a man who lived a thousand years surrounded by nothing but death and the strange stirrings that tend to follow it. He’s felt it before, each departure lodging deeper than the one beforehand, but not this deeply. Not this crippling. He should have known, really. He finds karma’s not as sweet as he’d like when it takes the people he loves from his clutched hands. It’s long overdue.</p>
<p>He thinks maybe it’s time it takes him, as well, if only to spare himself the hours-long trip, the inevitability of seeing Caroline’s grey skin marred by greyer veins, the pain it would give him to trace the lines of her face and not feel her warmth or hear her heart beating steadily against her chest. Instead, he squares his shoulders, doesn’t think about leaving bodies in his wake just yet.</p>
<p>First he needs to find out who did this, avenge his Caroline. Grief is something he cannot comprehend, but revenge, he’s quite familiar with. And then perhaps he might finally rid the world of Klaus Mikaelson once and for all, but more for him than the world in this circumstance, he must admit. Perhaps.</p>
<p>“I’ll be there shortly,” He tells Hope, and then he hangs up.</p>
<p> </p>
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